Engineering and Management Study

Sustainable housing materials Timber Sourced correctly, wood can be one of the most sustainable building materials, and it’s extremely popular in sustainable housing circles. Wood is, of course, a renewable material and as trees capture carbon over the course of their lifetimes  wood can be better than carbon neutral  when its entire life-cycle is taken into account. Straw bale Straw bale building has been refined quite a bit since the three little pigs built their house – modern eco-builds that use this material are in no danger from the efforts of any huffing, puffing wolves (or any other forces, for that matter!). Straw bale houses are strong, safe, affordable and great for the environment. Straw bale buildings can also be better than carbon neutral over the course of their lifetime, and when they’ve reached the end of their lives, can be removed to leave no waste and no blot on the landscape. Especially in areas where straw is produced naturally as a by-product of agricult...

Introduction Taguchi’s methodology is a statistical innovative approach to total quality management developed by Genichi Taguchi of Japan. When Japan began its reconstruction efforts after World War II, it faced an acute shortage of good quality raw material, high quality manufacturing equipment and skilled engineers. The challenge was to produce high quality products and continue to improve the quality under those circumstances. The task of developing a methodology to meet the challenge was assigned to Dr. Genichi Taguchi. Through his research in the 1950s and the early 1960s, Dr. Taguchi developed the foundations of Robust Design methodology and validated its basic philosophies by applying them in the development of many products. The Methodology Robust Design is an engineering methodology for improving productivity during research and development so that high quality products can be produced quickly and at low cost. Its use can greatly improve an organization’s ability to meet marke...

Kaizen: A.      Kaizen is a Japanese term that is typically referred to as continuous improvement or creation of a system of continuous improvement in quality, technology,processes, culture, productivity, safety, and leadership. B.      Kaizen isconsidered as one of the driving forces behind Toyota’s journey to excellence. C.      This was a result of Toyota’s success in establishing plans to sustain and further improve a desirable level of performance and to prevent degradation and loss of lean momentum. D.      Deploying a Kaizen effort or plan in a company implies working continuously for improvement in all facets of operation. E.       Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis (i.e., always improving productivity, safety, and effectiveness and reducing waste). These continual small improvements add up to major benefits. They result in im...

Typical rivet heads and shanks 4.2.2  Typical riveted lap joints Single row lap joint Double row (chain) lap joint Double row (zigzag) lap joint 4.2.3  Typical riveted butt joints Single strap chain riveted butt joint (single row) Note Note:  This joint may also be double row riveted, chain or zigzag. The strap width = 12  D  when double riveted (pitch between rows = 3  D ). Double strap chain riveted butt joint (double row) Note:  This joint may also be double row zigzag riveted (see Section 4.2.2) or it may be single riveted as above. 4.2.4  Proportions for hole diameter and rivet length 4.2.5  Cold forged snap head rivets